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Capello keeps job as England manager

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 02 July 2010

Fabio Capello is to stay on as England manager and will shake up the team line-up. Former FA executive director David Davies tells Channel 4 News we need to agree on priorities for English football.

Fabio Capello is to keep his job as England manager, the FA said today

The Football Association board unanimously voted Capello "the best man for the job", allowing the Italian to keep his £6m-a-year post despite calls for his head after England crashed out of the World Cup.

Capello said today Club England Chairman Sir Dave Richards had called him with the news and he is more determined than ever to succeed with the England team.

But David Davies told Channel 4 News: "In my opinion who is the manager of the team is less important at this time than addressing a few more root and branch issues."

"Successive managers have said that too many of our players do not have the technical ability to the level it should be. This is a problem we must address otherwise we will keep producing generations of footballers who are not as good, technically, as the Brazilians, Spanish, Dutch, Germans - the list goes on," he said. 

Capello sought to assure fans that he was "fully focused" on England's European qualifying fixtures - starting with the friendly against Hungary in August.

The England manager said he would draft in new players to inject some energy into the team. He also promised to draw on all his experience to take the team forward.

"I explained (to Sir Dave Richards) it is very important we use the disappointment as a motivation in the future," Capello added in a statement.

Capello connections: who knows Fabio? 

Sir Dave said: "He went into the World Cup with a reputation as one of World football’s finest managers and we are confident Fabio will benefit from his first international tournament experience and this will undoubtedly make us all stronger for the Euro 2012 campaign."

Meanwhile, Davies told Channel 4 News: "Rumours circulating in the press that Capello has lost the faith of some of his players would appear to be untrue, as the people who made this decision to keep him on have been around the camp for the last few weeks. They've seen the dynamic in the squad and obviously don't think Fabio is the problem."

The England football team needs to decide upon some agree priorities, he said. However, he added: "I'm an ex-chairman and I'm not sure what those priorities are. The FA have theirs, the Premier League have theirs and the Football League have theirs. Where does the England team fit in?"

The FA said today its board considered all aspects of England’s World Cup performance at a meeting to discuss Capello’s future.

Sir Dave said: "We are all still extremely disappointed at our performance in South Africa, and we believed it was important that we took some time to reflect on everything in a calm and considered manner back in England.

"After fully discussing our performance we remain convinced that Fabio is the best man for the job."

Capello has suffered an anxious five-day wait to hear his fate, after holding an emergency press conference repeating his wish to stay on as manager - following England’s painful 4-1 defeat to Germany on Sunday.

Today, Capello said: "I am extremely proud to be the England Manager, it means so much to me and I am determined to succeed."

FA Board Acting Chairman Roger Burden commented: "The FA Board supports this decision. It is the right decision and will allow us now to rebuild for the future with Fabio leading us forward."

Davies pointed out that the FA do not have a habit of sacking their managers after poor performances at tournaments.

"If you look back to Sir Bobby Robson in the Euro Championships of 1988 England lost all three of their group games and came home in disgrace," he said.

"The chairman of the FA stuck by him and two years later he led England to a World Cup semi-final - their best performance at a major tournament since 1966."

Davies said he was not willing to speculate on rumours that the FA's decision not to sack him was because the group could not afford to pay him off.

Reaction on the Twittersphere:

Nathan_Irvine:
So the #FA didn't need a fortnight to decide Capello's future. Turns out they just needed Woy Hodgson to turn down the #England gig.

PatJHennessy:
Capello staying as #ENG  manager - rewards for failure writ large. How do you do worse than humiliation by fiercest rivals on biggest stage?

POLITICSEDITOR:
@PatJHennessy Might it have cost #FA too much to axe #Capello? Sign of crazy inflation in #Eng  game? Time for austerity cuts?

TheUninspired: Did the #FA just save themselves a £6mil bill?

Nyreehood: Never thought I would say this but glad the #fa have seen sense

DaveNoddyGough: Well then the players need ditching...

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